The present invention relates to a locking assembly for a glider rocker, designed in particular for safe operation.
Many configurations of locking assemblies and locking devices have been developed so far in relation with rocking, reclining or gliding chairs. Examples of such configurations, illustrating the state of the art, can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 3,815,954 (Rogers, Jr. et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 3,826,532 (Caldemeyer); U.S. Pat. No. 4,212,494 (Dabney); U.S. Pat. No. 4,601,513 (Pine); U.S. Pat. No. 4,893,871 (Kowalski); U.S. Pat. No. 5,121,967 (Rogers); U.S. Pat. No. 5,248,120 (Brien); U.S. Pat. No. 5,344,214 (Trent); U.S. Pat. No. 5,704,686 (May); U.S. Pat. No. 5,749,625 (Robinson); U.S. Pat. No. 5,765,913 (LaPointe et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 5,795,021 (Rogers); and U.S. Pat. No. 6,033,020 (Ito).
Also known in the art is laid-open Canadian patent application No. 2,234,181 (Desnoyers et al.), which shows a locking mechanism for a glider rocker. The mechanism has toothed rails and locking pins respectively mounted on the rocker""s base and gliding seat, and arranged so that a lifting or lowering of the rails according to the selected configuration will result in a locking engagement of the pins between teeth of the rails, thereby stopping movement of the gliding seat with respect to the base. The design of the mechanism is however prone to disengagement of the rails from the pins, which may happen at undesired times and may be unsafe.
An object of the invention is to provide a safer locking assembly for a glider rocker, which may be either added on existing glider rockers or provided during the manufacturing process of new glider rockers.
Another object of the invention is to provide such a locking assembly for a glider rocker, which is simple in construction, thus highly cost-competitive, yet is highly reliable and efficient.
According to the present invention, there is provided a locking assembly for a glider rocker having a gliding chair seat mounted on a stationary base. A latch bar is adapted to extend horizontally and transversely with respect to a gliding direction of the chair seat. Mounting means are provided for attaching the latch bar to the chair seat, the mounting means being operable for selectively lifting and lowering the latch bar with respect to the chair seat. A bracket affixable to the base, has an upper end provided with a downwardly extending catch slot into which the latch bar slideably fits when the latch bar is aligned therewith and lowered by operation of the mounting means.
According to the invention, there is also provided a glider rocker equipped with the above locking assembly.